Worlds Collide
by Izreina Maxwell
Summary: Before Shiba Takeru, there was Heero Yuy... and only a handful of people that knew they were one and the same. It wasn't planned for Takeru to actually become the head of the Shiba clan. And once the Super Sentai power was taken from him, he was lost. So lost, he'd forgotten about the life he led before... and a woman he left behind...


Author's Note: My first experiment with crossovers. A collision of two of my favorite shows. I had debated whether or not I wanted to post it. But I'm interested to see where my mind takes me with it... and I'm interested to see what you guys think about it. Title is a work in progress. I suck at making titles.

Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own 'em. I just love 'em.

Samurai Sentai: Shinkenger  
VS  
Gundam Wing

Worlds Collide – Chapter I

Shiba Kaoru had known that losing their powers after the Legendary War against the space invaders would affect Takeru the worst. He had been confused about his role since Doukoku's defeat. It was never intended for him to really become the head of the Shiba clan. And Kaoru knew he had a life he was to return to once his part had been done with. But they both had underestimated the strength he offered, as well as the camaraderie between himself and the other samurai. She wouldn't deny that she knew he'd be a stronger fighter than she was, because of his training in his other life. But she hadn't expected him to be the strong samurai he had become.

And she hadn't thought about his other life when she adopted him, making him the 19th head so that he and his comrades could continue the fight when she failed to seal Doukoku. She should have. After all, he had someone waiting for him to return. And she'd been waiting a lot longer than she should have.

Kaoru would take the blame for that. She should have told Takeru that he should feel free to return to that life if he wanted to. Once that business with the Goseigers was over and done with, there really wasn't any point for him to remain. Kaoru could easily take care of the remnants left in the Sanzu River. Ryuunosuke was always nearby, if needed. After all, Genta had taken his sushi cart around the world. And Mako was living with her parents in America. Kotoha and Chaiki both were attending schools in their respective home towns. Everyone was living their own lives, now... except for Takeru.

She'd been in correspondence with the woman, Tokugawa Aria, letters here and there, occasional phone calls, since Takeru left her. Kaoru had promised her that she wouldn't tell Takeru. The woman knew how important his role was. But Kaoru knew she shouldn't have let him stay away as long as he had, especially once she received the last letter. It wasn't from Aria, but from another friend Takeru had in his other life.

Kaoru didn't hesitate in making a decision after reading that letter. He needed to go back. Aria needed him. Rather… she needed the man he was in that other life.

She held the letter tightly in one hand while she looked at a photograph in the other that Aria had sent her at the beginning. Five young men were seated on stools, all in variations of what resembled a military uniform. Black slacks, though Kaoru noted a few of them had the hems tucked inside their boots, while the others didn't. The boy in the center was the only one of the five that wasn't wearing the uniform jacket, or any other type of identification.

Her lips fell into a worried frown when she looked back to the letter for a moment before tucking them both into the sleeve of her kimono as she heard Takeru and Hikoma in the hallway. She folded her hands together, resting them in her lap as they walked into the common room. Takeru stopped a moment in the doorway when he saw her up on the pedestal. Hikoma ushered him into the room, bowing briefly before he went on about his business, keeping himself and others occupied so that she and Takeru could speak alone, as she had asked him.

"What's wrong?" He frowned as he knelt in front of her. "Jii said it was important."

Kaoru nodded as she reached into her sleeve, pulling out the photograph. "Hikoma-san and I discussed it. And we think you should go back…" She stared at the photograph for a long moment to avoid looking into his eyes.

"Go back…?" His brow rose in question, but he felt every other muscle in his being tense up. There was no way that Kaoru knew about that other life. He had been pretty damn careful about keeping the two separate from one another. Only Jii knew about that life, and he knew damn well that no one over there knew about this life. Well, no one except… Aria… he'd forgotten about Aria… How the HELL could he have forgotten someone so important to him…?

"Ari-chan and I have known each other a long time. She was to me what Genta was to you, growing up. She's told me all about you, or rather this man that you had become, Heero Yuy." She passed the photograph to Takeru. "Knowing who you were was the only reason I took my time in properly learning the sealing character. I knew you were strong enough to lead the Shinkengers in my place until I was ready. You were a natural-born leader. But you surpassed what I ever thought possible from you. I suppose one does not underestimate a Gundam pilot…"

Shiba Takeru/Heero Yuy stared at the photograph for a long moment while Kaoru remained silent. In that one moment, suddenly he felt himself rushing back into the past. Everything that had happened… the Legendary War against those Zangyack invaders… That incident when they teamed up with the Goseigers… That final battle with Doukoku, and every day of his life before that as a Shinkenger… All of it passed in his mind as a blur as the photograph reopened memories he had locked away so that he could concentrate on his duty, his mission…

He stared at the photograph. Wufei… Duo… Trowa… Quatre… This was before Aria had become his partner as they all broke off to become trainers in their respective specialties… And that partnership had evolved way past a professional relationship. He knew he shouldn't have let it. He knew he would have had to leave her…

~_Flashback~_

Heero Yuy was never good at saying goodbye. That was always why he ended up just falling off the face of the planet without warning. But he knew Aria deserved more. The partner that shared his office, shared his professional responsibilities, but also shared his bed, his home, his life… She'd become far more important to him than he ever thought possible. And he shouldn't have let it get that far. He'd known this day was coming, and yet he never prepared himself to say goodbye to her.

Sisi Origami had been patiently waiting for several moments in its closed, pentagonal shape. But its patience had worn thin as his fingers had simply hovered over the keyboard for what seemed like an eternity. The Origami unfolded and approached, gently nipping at his hand.

"I know… " He shot a glare down to the red lion, gently giving it a bap on the head. "I'm going as fast as I can… But…" Sisi Origami gave him a low growl as it hopped over his arm to the envelope he'd received in the mail from Hikoma earlier in the evening. The only thing inside had been a small sheet of paper with the Shiba crest on it, similar to the message that his retainers would later receive. Sisi Origami pulled the paper out from under the envelope.

Heero sighed as he picked up the paper, staring at the crest for a moment. Aria was from an old samurai family. Perhaps she'd know the crest. If not, she could certainly find out. Aria had the resources in Japan. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if she already suspected something. He knows she had to have seen Sisi Origami at some point, they'd been living together for over a year and Sisi liked to play games.

Heero finally shut the lid to his laptop and grabbed a pen that was lying on the desk, writing on the paper just above the Shiba crest.

_I have something I need to do, a duty to my family. It's important the others don't follow. I know you can handle that. Knowing you as well as I think I do, you must already know why. I'll be gone as long as it takes, giving a time frame will be difficult. I'll be back as soon as I can. _

_P.S. Keep Duo out of trouble. _

He was satisfied with that. So was Sisi as it bobbed its head approvingly. He dropped the pen beside the paper as he stood, Sisi jumping into his jacket pocket before folding back into its pentagonal shape.

_~End Flashback~_

He looked up to Kaoru as she continued, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Three years, it's been, since the defeat of those invaders that cost us our powers. Five years since Doukoku was defeated. That makes six years since you left her and your friends there. I promised Ari-chan that I wouldn't tell you about our correspondence. She's been confident that you would return when you were ready. But I can't, in good conscience, keep my promise. The last letter didn't come from Ari-chan…"

She hesitated a moment before pulling the letter out of her sleeve. Takeru didn't like her hesitation, or the look of concern on her face. He stared at the letter in her hand as she tentatively handed it over to him.

He recognized the precision in each stroke, immediately. Not to mention there was only one of the pilots that was fluent enough in the language to write in Japanese kanji. And he was the only one he knew Aria would trust with his secret if something had happened. Duo wouldn't have been able to keep the secret. Quatre was too susceptible to Duo's "torture" techniques. And Trowa was too close to Quatre, it would be difficult to tell him something without Quatre listening in.

"It's from Wufei…" The statement just fell from his lips as he began reading. The further into the letter he got, the more he was just glancing over the words. Only a few words registered in his mind, but they were powerful.

'_Mission gone wrong… Agent Tokugawa in critical condition…'_

He knew there were other things written there, but that's all that stuck in his head as he looked up to Kaoru. Her hands were clasped together in her lap as she watched him read, tightly together. Because Takeru could see her knuckles turning white as she tried to hang on to her composure. She mentioned that Aria was to her what Genta had been to him when they were children. If the honorific she used for her was any indication, she was someone very important to Kaoru. So she'd been just as affected by the news as he was. This was evident when she choked a moment before she spoke.

"I… I called as soon as I received the letter. I spoke with Agent Chang for a very long time. He knows you've been here as a duty to your family, but nothing more. He would not give me the details about Ari-chan's injuries, but he made it very clear that you were needed. He was quite rude and disrespectful… Ari-chan has had more than a few choice words about him… But… he seems to care a great deal for her… and for you."

Takeru looked back down to the letter in his hands. "I tried not to get too attached to the samurai… I tried to keep my distance… To do the duty that I had been instructed to do… But there were so many similarities between them and the pilots… It was difficult not to form a relationship with them… And… I didn't miss the others so much… The closer we became, the stronger we became… And the more I wanted to stay with them… That was why it was difficult to leave when you finally appeared… Well… that… and I knew that if I didn't finish things with Juzo, then he would follow me until I did… I couldn't let the two lives collide like that…"

He looked at the photograph again. "And the longer I stayed…" He left the thought unfinished for a moment as he dropped both the letter and the photograph. He didn't want to admit that he'd begun to forget about being Heero Yuy, and everything that that life had held… including the woman he loved…

"It's really been six years since I left her…" And something happened to her. These last three years, he'd felt lost in his role as the 19th head of the Shiba clan, but he should have gone back. He had planned to go back. At the very least he could have been in touch with her after Doukoku's defeat. But it had never occurred to him. Because becoming the 19th head wasn't supposed to have happened. Becoming a true samurai of the Shiba clan wasn't supposed to have happened. He was just a shadow, holding Kaoru's place until she was ready, acting as a decoy so that she could become powerful enough to fulfill her duty. When she took her place, he was supposed to have gone back.

His relationship with the samurai had completely derailed the original plan, long before Kaoru's sealing character failed. And what had ended up happening left Takeru confused as to what his duty was supposed to be, now.

Kaoru leaned forward, placing a shaking hand on his shoulder. It was painfully obvious she was taking just as much of the blame as he was. He reluctantly raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Your flight is arranged. Hikoma-san is having your bags packed, now. Agent Chang has promised not a soul will know you're returning. He implies that your friends will not be very welcoming…"

He cringed slightly. He didn't blame them. Aria was like a sister to the other pilots, as much as he was… or had been… a brother. He had to admit, he didn't think very much of himself at that moment, either. Wufei wouldn't have contacted Karou unless Aria's condition was serious. Missions didn't go wrong for Aria. Aria was a perfectionist. She had plans for if things went wrong. He should have been there. He should have been on that mission with her. It didn't matter what kind of mission it was, surely she hadn't gone in alone…

"Listen to me. Ari-chan is strong. She was a few years older, but we grew up together. We trained together as much as we played together. In other circumstances, she would have been one of us. But that's a story for another time." She gave him a soft smile as she released his shoulder. "My point is… She will recover, especially once you get there…"

She looked down to the photograph and the letter he handed back to her as he stood. She took his hand before he began walking away, giving it a tight squeeze.

"I wish I could go with you. Promise me you'll let me know her situation?"

He sighed, giving her hand a squeeze in return. It was taking every ounce of consciousness not to break it, he was holding it so tightly. He was suddenly scared to death to return to that life. What if he got there to discover that she was dying… because he wasn't there… because he didn't take that mission with her… It was everything he could do not to break down in front of Kaoru.

"I… I'll call as soon as I can."

Kaoru released his hand as Hikoma walked into the room, carrying a familiar jacket. He hadn't realized he'd brought the uniform with him. But knowing Jii as well as he thought he did, the old man probably sent for it. He took it as it was handed to him, staring a few moments at the identification badge clipped to the breast pocket. He frowned at the picture, HIS picture, on the badge.

"You've evolved so much since this photo was taken, _Tono_… Perhaps you should look into getting a new one…"

Takeru couldn't help but smile at his mentor as he slid into the jacket. The touch of the fabric was so familiar, he had to close his eyes a moment to search for the memories associated with the life that had felt so distant only moments ago.

He opened his eyes when he heard the tell-tale _click _of a camera. He shot a glare towards Kaoru as she put her shodophone away. The signature glare that was so familiar in the life he was returning to. And it only made Kaoru smile, though it was a shaky one.

"What…? As a mother, am I not entitled to have pride in my son the soldier?" The smile didn't remain on her face. She had tried to make light of the situation, but he knew she was deeply worried for her friend, probably as much as he was.

"Of course, Mother…" He gave her a small smile as he walked over, letting her know he appreciated her attempt. He leaned down toward her, whispering in her ear. "If anyone sees that picture… I'll kill you…" He smiled again, ducking out of the way of her swinging fan.

And with that, he left the identity of Shiba Takeru behind. Heero Yuy left the Shiba mansion without another word.


End file.
